This invention relates generally to paintball guns with loading and firing operations controlled electronically through a solenoid. More specifically, this invention relates to a paintball gun that uses a pressure regulator to supply low pressure gas to both the solenoid and a firing chamber.
The industry has been unable to provide a simple, electrically-controlled, pneumatic paintball gun because, traditionally, high pressure gas has been required to launch a paintball from the gun, while low pressure gas is required for the solenoid-controlled loading and launch initiation (firing) operations. In the prior art paintball guns, therefore, two pressure regulators are generally required. U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,504, issued to Rice, et al. (Rice), describes one such gun having two separate pressure regulators for regulating gas from a high pressure gas source. Specifically, Rice discloses a paintball gun having a low pressure regulator that supplies gas of a pressure of around 80-90 psi to an electrically-controlled solenoid. The solenoid, in turn, controls movement of a pneumatic ram to control loading and firing operations of the gun. A high pressure regulator is also required, however. The high pressure regulator is used to supply gas having a pressure of around 400-600 psi to launch a paintball from a firing chamber during the firing operation. Although Rice suggests, in the concluding paragraph of the written description, that the same xe2x80x9chighxe2x80x9d pressure gas can be used in the pneumatic control circuit as well as in the high pressure chamber, Rice does not explain how to accomplish this. The BushMaster 2000 model paintball gun, manufactured by Indian Creek Design of Nampa, Id., is another example of a paintball gun having separate high and low pressure regulators for solenoid-controlled operations and paintball launching, respectively.
In addition to the added complexity of having dual pressure regulators, launching paintballs using high pressure gas has many of its own disadvantages. For instance, high pressure launching frequently results in the paintballs breaking within the firing chamber or within a barrel of the gun. High pressure launching also generally causes deformation of the paintballs leading to inaccuracy in aiming.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,707 (the ""707 patent) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,133 (the ""133 patent), both issued to Gardner, et al, disclose electrically-operated pneumatic paintball guns that use a low pressure gas to launch a paintball from a firing chamber in addition to performing the solenoid-controlled loading and firing operations. Although the paintball guns disclosed in these two patents offer a significant improvement in performance over dual-regulator guns that use high pressure gas for paintball launching, the ""707 and ""133 patent paintball guns are complex and, therefore, expensive to manufacture and repair. What is needed, therefore, is a simplified, electrically-operated, pneumatic paintball gun that uses low pressure gas for both solenoid-controlled operations and for launching the paintball. The industry would also be benefitted by a low pressure launching paintball gun which does not suffer from substantial pressure drop-off during firing.
According to the needs of the industry, one object of the present invention is to enable a paintball gun with a simplified mechanical structure that uses a low pressure regulator for launching a paintball from a firing chamber and for driving solenoid-controlled operations.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a paintball gun which uses low pressure for paintball launching, but does not suffer from significant pressure drop-off during firing.
This invention provides a significant improvement in the art by enabling a paintball gun with a simplified mechanical structure that provides the benefits of a low pressure launching mechanism. Specifically, a paintball gun according to this invention comprises a pressure regulator, an electronic solenoid valve, a firing valve assembly, a pneumatic ram assembly, and a firing chamber. The pressure regulator is configured to provide low pressure gas, regulated from a high pressure gas source, to an electronic solenoid valve in order to control a loading and a firing operation of the paintball gun. The pressure regulator is further configured to supply low pressure gas to the firing chamber via operation of the firing valve assembly in order to launch a paintball. The firing valve assembly can be configured with an opening, a valve chamber, and an exit port in fluid communication with the firing chamber, each having a flow area large enough to allow a sufficient flow of gas to be supplied to the firing chamber without significant pressure drop-off. The firing valve assembly can also be provided with an o-ring seated around the valve cap to provide sensitivity to the valve, allowing it to open and close quickly in order to ensure a near instantaneous shutoff with minimal load. The firing valve assembly is opened by the operation of the solenoid valve-controlled pneumatic ram assembly during the firing operation. The pneumatic ram assembly may also be connected to a bolt assembly via a mechanical linkage to perform the loading operation.
The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.